Energy prices - how much are you paying?

[spadetownboy]

frac have a look on moneysavingexpert.com, he always has threads about this type of thing and is pretty good at sussing out the market and recommending when and when not to switch. he also has a number of comparison sites for making utility switches, most of which not only compare price but also which are the greenest companies,which are best in terms of reliability etc,etc. some of them also offer incentives for when you switch, the one i have used for the past 3 years gives me ?15 every time i change gas and electric companies and at no cost to me.well worth a look.

[bawdy-nan]

Does anyone know if halogen lights use more electricity. Even if they are low voltage, we have 8 of them in our sitting room. I feel, but don't know, that this must be an energy drain and was thinking of getting a couple of standard lamps I can use low energy bulbs in. We can't replace the fittings because we rent - anyone know about this?

[alachlan]

You need to think in terms of watts. A normal bulb would be up to 100 watts and might light your room adequately. If you had this on for 5 hours per day each day of the year, it would use 100/1000 = 0.1kilowatts x 5 hours x 365 days = 182.5 kilowatt hours, or units of electricity. If you get charged 10p a unit, ?18.25.

If you had 8 standard halogens, normally 50W each, this is going to cost four times as much. Now multiply by the number of rooms you have halogens in. But they do look great. The problem with the low voltage ("low energy") versions is that they do use a transformer and the ones that will come with the system are likely to be grossly inefficient.

[bawdy-nan]

yikes - as I thought ... I'm nipping down to ikea for an ugly standard lamp sharpish

[Tom]

4 bed semi-d on green tarif costs ?140 pcm but we are ?300 in the red, so I would guess ?150pcm is about right.

However, we are guilty of using a tumble dryer, which probably accounts for ?20 of that a month.

[fractionater]

Thanks Spade will check moneysavingexpert.com out.

[jim_the_chin]

2 bed terrace, and the first person still with British Gas, going by a quick scan of posts - ?75 a month.

[citizenED]

Fractionator, By the look of all the threads, you should be paying a fraction of the price...

[Huguenot]

Hmmm... F. turn all your appliances off at the plug when leaving for work time and then check once more when you get home. That means telly et al. You'd be surprised how much energy stand-by mode absorbs.

If you've still got high scores let us know?

[Ladygooner]

3 bedroom house - B Gas ?26 pm and EDF Electricity ?26 pm

[fractionater]

Good idea Huge - I'll try that sometime next week.

[Muttley]

I've just had Mr Southern Electric/Transco at the door promising that they cut out the middle man and will be able to transfer my gas and electricity to them in just five minutes ("just a quick phone call") and save about 40% on my current bills (we currently have EDF for gas and British Gas for electricity).

Can anyone vouch for this? I feel jaded after listening to this sort of energy sales spiel many times over the years, but the savings he's offering are hard to resist if genuine.